Cooking with Children - Halloween Cakes and Biscuits

I love cooking and baking with the boys and for me the secret is letting go and dealing with the mess afterwards, plus good planning, making sure all the ingredients are out and the equipment etc.  I think that by empowering the boys to cook and bake it will stand them in good stead as they get older, plus they can start cooking dinner and feed me!
 

Also it might not look perfect, but I can assure you it tastes mighty fine.  So I bring you Maxi's chocolate cakes and biscuits.

Basic Biscuit Recipe

I use one without egg and it is fine if over handled, so perfect for children

175g/6oz Plain Flour
100g/4oz Butter or Margarine
50g/2oz Caster Sugar
Pre-heat oven to 180

Cream the butter or margarine and caster sugar
Stir in the flour and once mixed knead the dough together until it forms a ball
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 5mm thick

Spooky Chocolate Web Cakes

6 oz margarine
6 oz caster sugar
5 oz self raising floor
1 oz coco powder
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
Icing Sugar
Hot water

Cream margarine and sugar
Add eggs, flour, coco powder and baking powder, then 2 tbls of milk
Cook for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

To make the web, mix icing sugar and hot water and cover the cake.  Create a swirl in black icing (we used Silver Spoon Black Designer Icing kindly supplied by Silver Spoon) and then take a cocktail stick and drag the icing out towards the edge.

These cakes are all Maxi's own work and they looked fantastic and tasted even better!

I would like to say thank you to Silver Spoon for supplying me and the boys with some of their cake decorating goodies.

We are entering in the Big Autumn Bakeoff with this!

Cooking with Children - Lamb Stir-Fry

 We were given a some welsh lamb and the ingredients to make a welsh lamb stir fry from the Cool2Cook2 book which has been produced by Meat Promotion Wales (Hybu Cig Cymru) to help get kids cooking.

I love getting the boys in the kitchen, so we set about following the recipe on Saturday evening.  The boys chopped all the vegetables, whilst I did the ginger and MadDad prepared the lamb, which was welsh and organic.

I have to say that the recipe was really easy to follow and the boys did the majority of the work, with me and MadDad supervising.

We really enjoyed it and there was 4 empty bowls at the end of the evening.  In fact the boys enjoyed it so much that we made Lamb Kofta Kebabs out of the book for Sunday dinner.

They went down a treat.  If you can get hold of this cook book then I would, it has some very easy, well balanced recipes in it and the MiniMads want to try them all and I can see it being used time and time again, especially when they are a little older and I can get them to cook dinner for us all!

Why you should vote for me

Today is the final day for voting in The Mads.  I am one of the final five who are up for the Best family Fun Blog, so I am putting in a shameless, last ditched attempt to gain your votes.

So here are some reasons why I think we fit the bill

Crafting with Children

Fathers day is June 20th, so here I have some great ideas for Fathers day cards and gifts you can make with your children.

One of my most popular posts via search engine is the rain catchers we made inspired by Cbeebies.

Do you have lots of broken wax crayons?  Don't throw them away, try out recycling them in to make your own funky multi-coloured crayons.

Cooking with Children

Get creative in the kitchen with this recipe for home made naan bread and dahl.

best carrot cake in the whole wide world, don't believe me take a look at the comments!

Try out our home made pizza dough recipe

Great Ideas

.  Well my car packs came in so handy when we had a breakdown

When I was teaching the boys to set the table, I made a printed table mat and also made a fabric one for each of them too.

Rewards and Incentives for children.   Read about our method of positive reinforcement and rewards to encourage good behaviour

Wonderful Readers

One of the most inspiring things I have learned from blogging is the support and comments I receive from my readers and commenter's. A great example is that fact that Mini suffers from terrible tantrums and the advise and support I received was life changing for us all. Read about the recomendations and how we implemented the ideas.



Voting closes tonight at midnight, so if you haven't voted for TheMadHouse yet, then please click here and give me your vote!

A Wonderful Bank Holiday Monday spent in the Kitchen and Garden

I think the sun forgot our little park of the North East today.

So we have spent the day baking.

Maxi did all the weighing and measuring

Mini did most of the stirring and tasting

We have had a lot of fun and made lots of cakes

Oat and raisin cooks and mince pies (mini's favorites)

Many Muffins, sweet mincemeat and St Stephens Day Muffins, in addition to some fairy cakes.

Whilst I was busy in the kitchen, MadDad tended the garden, including planting out the courgettes and cucumbers.

Everything is looking great and really coming along.

He also washed and cleaned the cars, ready for the trip we are taking today to Emma Bridgewater's Factory to celebrate their 25th Anniversary with them. We are very excited and I am sure will have loads to show and tell you.

Tiffin/Rocky Road

In an homage to my fellow MAD finalist Nick at My Daddy Cooks, Mini and I made a twist on his and Archies Tiffin 

We followed Nick's basic recipe, but made a few tweaks as we went along.

125g butter
250g digestive biscuits
4 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp high quality cocoa powder
75g raisins
250g plain/dark chocolate

Instead of using the microwave we melted our butter, golden syrup and chocolate over the stove, for me I love the way it all melts together, so smooth and silk like.

We then added it to our biscuit mix and added in raisins and mini marshmallows.

What is truly great about this recipe is that mini did most of the work, but adding golden syrup, you make the chocolate more pliable and it takes longer to set.  I always add golden syrup to the chocolate when making crispy cakes or our Jelly Baby Jesus Cakes

We placed the mix in to a silicon tray and pushed in some more marshmallows on top and I left it in the fridge for an hour or so, whilst mini set to on the spatula and bowl.

Once it was set, I cut it in to very small squares.  We have been enjoying this as a treat once the boys are home from school with a nice cup of tea.

If you would like to vote for me in The Mads (Mummy and Daddy Blogger Awards) then please follow this link.  I really appreciate your vote.

The Best Ever Oat and Raisin Cookies in the world

I dont say it lightly, but these cookies are amazing and never last in our house.  They truly are the best.  This is an American Recipe (it came on the back of some sunmaid raisins from the US), but that said is super easy for the boys, as I have some plastic cup measures that they use.

So here goes

Ingredients

3/4 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 cup Raisins

 

Method

Heat oven to 180. 
Beat butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, milk, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add to butter mixture and mix well.
Stir in oats, raisins and nuts, if using. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.
Cool on wire racks.

Then get the children to clean up after themselves!

If you like them, then I am sure you will love the best carrot cake in the world ever too, dont take my word for it, have a look at some of the comments.

Shrove Tuesday, Lent and Ash Wednesday

So lets do this in order shall we.....

We used up our eggs (fresh from the butcher) and all had a wonderful evening meal with tons of pancakes. In fact it is one of my most pleasant memories from childrhood, pancake day, reinforced every year by the same routine and due to the joy that this memory brings me, I do the same with my little men

 

Table set for a dinner of sweet pancakes, sugar, lemon juice, raspberry sauce and golden syrup, tea cups for all and also sugar cubes and a large pot of tea.  Mum (yes me) in the kitchen on what seems to be a conveyor belt of pancake making and the men in my life eating them all.

Yep, no starter, no main, just desert.  The one day a year we could get away with it as children, a real treat something we looked forward to with sweet anticipation.  So I hope the same will come to pass with the mini's and there is just something when your four year old tells you that you are awesome for being able to flip pancakes.

One of the things we discussed was why pancake day happens and what lent will mean for the boys.  What are we going to give up.  Well they are going to think about it and come back to us as the dinner table tonight.  I have had a long hard think about what I am going to do for lent.  Yes I could give up something physical for lent, but have decided that this year, I am going to make it harder than just giving up crisps or the like.  

his year, drum roll please.............................................................

I am giving up shouting

Yes I am under no illusion that this isn't going to be easy for me, but I want the boys to understand that denying yourself something, doesn't have to be negative in all its connotations.  Lent means more than that to me.

Lent means more to us as a family, we got married in Lent, Maxi was born during lent and I don't want the boys understanding of Christianity to be based on fire and brimstone's.  I think we are less straight along the line of our beliefs.

So that is me, I am not going to be a shoutie fishwife mum over lent and hopefully we will all see a permanent change in me.  what are you giving up for lent?

Menu Plan Monday and shortbread recipe

It is half term for me and the minimads this week, so I have lunches to make for all and then MadDad will be on on Friday, so we are going for a day out

Monday

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Curry and rice

Tuesday

Lunch - Pancakes

Dinner -Spag bol

Wednesday

Lunch - leftovers

Thursday - Jambalaya

Friday

Picnic and pot luck

Saturday

Home made chicken burgers and wedges

Home made pizza

Sunday - I am not sure what meat we will be going with this week, I will see what is on offer at the butchers

I also wanted to give you the recipe for the almond shortbread biscuits, as they are very simple to make and really good for children, as you cant really over handle the dough:

Ingredients

150g of plain flour

25 g of ground rice or ground almond

100 chilled butter

50g caster Sugar

almond essence

tea spoon of milk

Method

Cut up the butter in to small chunks and rub in to the flour and almond/ground rice

Add other ingredients and squeeze them all into a dough

Sprinkle top with flour and roll out to 5mm thick

Use cookie cutter  and place on a baking tray.

Cook at 170 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes

Allow to cool for 2 minutes and then lift on to a wire rack to cool

Variations

You can add lemon or orange zest and two teaspoons of their juice rather than the almond essence and milk.

The Best Carrot Cake in the Whole Wide World

 

Receipe

140ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
2 Eggs
200g light brown sugar
300g grated Carrots, (grated weight)
100g raisins
75g pecans or Walnuts, chopped (optional)
180g self-raising flour
1 pinch Salt
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Mixed spice

Orange cream cheese icing - this rarely gets put on in this house, as everyone eats the cake before I get chance!!

50g cream cheese, chilled
50g Butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 Orange, zest only

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2. Oil and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. I just use a silicone one.

2.Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts.

3. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for about five minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

6. For the icing: beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix until the icing is smooth and thick.

Adapted from Rachel Allen, Bake (Collins)

 

Even people who say, oh I don't like carrot cake, love this cake.  My mum couldn't believe the amount of carrots that went in to it and I guarantee once you have made one, it will become a firm favorite.  I don't even peel the carrots before grating them anymore and can make it in 5 mins.

Anyway don't take my word for it, try it and you too will be calling it the best carrot cake in the whole wide world and with all those carrots in, surely it has to count as one of your 5 a day!

 

Meal Plan Monday and More Frugal Food

Sunday Dinner was Mince, onions, dumplings and lots and lots of vegetables, one of my big tips for being frugal and following your meal plans is to make it as easy as possible, so today food will follow on and utilise yesterdays leftovers and additional amount that we cooked.

Monday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese, utilising mince, onions and any left over veg with the tomato sauce we made over the summer

Tuesday

Lunch - Spaghetti on toast

Dinner - Lasagna, bulked out with cottage cheese and vegetables

Wednesday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner - Dahl and Naan Breads

Thursday

Lunch - Sandwiches and soup

Dinner - Sausage casserole and sweet potato

Friday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner, Fish, oven Chips and peas

Saturday

Lunch - Home made burgers (Maxi loves coming home from football and tucking in)

Dinner - Home made pizza

Sunday

Poached eggs on Muffin

Roast Chicken Dinner

Cooking in Bulk - Mads tip of the week

When I see vegetables or other food marked down I always see if there are ways I can incorporate them in our meals or meal plan.  I use tons of onions, so every so often, I get MadDad (I can not stand peeling onions) to do a big peel and chop and we then cook them off and pop them in bags and freeze them.

We did this yesterday.  20 onions chopped and diced and then cooked turned into six portions for the freezer and two for this week in with the mince.  I use onions a lot, with casserole, Curry's, dahl, mince etc, etc, etc

So what are your fail-safe recipes and favorite family meals?